


Breathe Again

by eerian_sadow



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Prowl lives, Unexpected Allies, no resurrected Optimus here, recovery from severe injuries, severe injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-09-01 18:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20262412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: The battle for Autobot City changed everything, possibly more than Unicron had. Many Autobots had died and others were left clinging to tenuous traces of life. That, of course, just encouraged outside forces to decide that both Earth and Cybertron were ripe for conquest.Or, re-conquest, if the Quintessons are to be believed.The Autobots and the Decepticons have formed an uneasy alliance, but with some of their best tactical minds down for the count, it may not be enough.





	1. Chapter 1

Jazz lifted the bottle in a tired salute. “Here's to us, Prowl. We made it to the end.”

Prowl didn't, couldn't respond. Hooked up to a dozen machines that preserved the life that Megatron had tried to snuff out so many times, the Praxian was still comatose as he waited for replacement parts. It wasn't natural, and it wasn't normal but Jazz found that he'd gotten used to that.

Prowl was, at least, still clinging to life. Unlike so many other old friends.

“You slept through the good parts. You knew about Megatron, but I guess Starscream was so pissed about dying that he became a ghost. And there's a treaty now, hammered out by Rodimus and Galvatron which was as crazy as it sounds but it has terms that all of the officers on both sides could agree on. Resource rights, joint repair efforts, the works. You'd've been proud. I know I was.” Jazz lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long drink of the high grade inside. “Only way it could have been better is if you were awake for it.”

One of Prowl's fingers twitched and Jazz felt a flare of hope. The Praxian was still holding on. And if Prowl was still holding on, then Jazz could too.

For at least another day.

~~~~~

“How is he?” 

Jazz glanced up at the young Prime as Rodimus hovered just inside the doorway of Prowl's isolation room. He shrugged one shoulder and looked back to the comatose mech on the berth. “Bout the same. Moves his fingers sometimes. Think i saw him smile yesterday when I was talking about Blue, but I could have just hallucinated that cause I want it so bad.”

“Is there…” Rodimus paused and Jazz thought he might have been rethinking what he wanted to ask. “What can I do to help?”

“Not much you can do that you ain't already done.” Jazz shrugged again. “Unless the Matrix has some magic healing powers that it's been hiding for vorns.”

“Nothing there, I'm afraid.” The Prime stepped further into the room. “What about for you? I know that this isn't easy on you, Jazz.”

“Appreciate the offer, Prime. But I'll be better when he wakes up. Nothing for that but time and parts.”

“I promise that we're working on that.”

“I know you are.” Jazz leaned forward tiredly and rested his elbows on the side of Prowl's berth. “We're good at waiting, me an’ Prowl.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Jazz?” The saboteur had barely settled on his stool when First Aid called his name. The medic stepped into the isolation room a moment later, posture straighter than Jazz could remember seeing in a long while. “Here you are!”

“Here I am,” he agreed mildly, too tired for any light hearted banter. “What's up?”

“I wanted to let you know that the most recent group of returning non-combatants has several of the parts that Prowl needs and have offered to trade them for assistance building new houses in the city. I accepted the offer, of course, but you said that you wanted to know about new developments immediately.”

“Yeah, I did.” Jazz rubbed his face tiredly. “Between keeping things calm between former Autobots and former Decepticons and sitting here with Prowl, I'm too exhausted to be as excited as I should be, but that's good news. What parts?”

“A vocalizer, the burned out sensors in his wings and those melted processor components. Enough to bring him out of stasis, if you think he would want that.”

The older mech sighed. “I can't make that call, Aid. Blue's his next of kin, not me.”

“I know that.” The medic stepped closer and put a hand on Jazz's shoulder. “I spoke with him first, and he said to ask you and abide by your decision because you will have to, and I quote, wrangle him once he's awake.”

“Prowl'll kick his ass if he finds out that Blue let me decide.” Jazz give the younger mech a wry smile. “Blue's his next of kin because he trusted him not to make emotional decisions.”

“And Bluestreak trusts you to do the same. And so do I, or I would have told him no.”

“Right.” The visored mech looked up the length of the berth, taking in the machine that was circulating Prowl's coolant and energon, and the energon drip that fed him fuel slowly enough that a second machine could process it into something his over-worked self-repair could use. Prowl would still need those, even if he was awake. “Keep him under, then. He'd go nuts having to stay in the berth and be hooked up to all that life support.”

“That would have been my recommendation, if you had asked,” First Aid agreed. “I will want to install his replacement parts as soon as they arrive.”

“Sure. Let me know when and I'll be there.”

“So we got about five months into that shiny new peace before the slag hit the fan.” 

The monitor keeping track of Prowl's sparkpulse beeped with timing good enough that it might have been asking him to continue speaking. Prowl himself did not even stir.

Jazz sighed deeply. “I told you about the Quintessons that Hot Rod and Kup ran into during the whole Unicron thing, right? Seems they think we're some lost property of theirs and have decided that they're gonna put us all into service as their slaves.”

The spark monitor beeped again. Prowl's fingers twitched toward him and Jazz reached for the other mech's hand. He gripped it tightly as he started speaking again. 

“We don't know the full extent of their capabilities, but they've got enough ground troops and heavy weapons that they nuked one of the lost colonies before they could even get a distress call outside the system. About five refugees got away, and one of them's dying from radiation poisoning in Mirage's favorite recovery room. We think the Quintessons let them get away on purpose, so we know that they're really coming.”

Prowl's fingers flexed against his hand, not quite enough to squeeze but still enough to give Jazz a small bit of comfort. 

“It's probably in our favor that they didn't give us time to settle in. Most of us haven't even thought of disarming yet, and I think Hound's the only one who actually did.” Jazz smiled bitterly. “We're gonna kick their afts, just because none of us know how to stop being soldiers anymore.”

“Jazz?” Mirage's soft voice interrupted before the visored mech could keep talking about the new war. 

“What's up, Raj?” Jazz squeezed Prowl's hand before laying it gently back on the berth. Then he turned to his subordinate and gave him his full attention. 

“Rodimus and the EDF have asked you to join the teleconference with Cybertron. Apparently Elita-1 wants your thoughts on our new adversaries.” 

“She would.” Jazz turned back to Prowl. “Duty calls. I'll be back after I get out of this meeting.”

“Do you mind if I sit with him?” Mirage asked as the saboteur stood. “Its very peaceful in here, and I find myself reluctant to return to the madness at the moment.”

“That'd be nice, Raj.” Jazz smiled at the other mech. “Aid says it helps when we talk to him, so you might do that while you're here.”

“I will. Thank you, Jazz.”

“You ain't gotta thank me. You were always welcome to visit.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Soundwave and his team have been forwarding intel as they get it.” Jazz dropped heavily onto his chair and sighed wearily. “The Quints are destroying and enslaving any mechanical population they come across. Charr is a lot closer to the front than Cybertron or Earth, so they're getting a front row view for the whole thing. Soundwave thinks it's only a matter of time--a few weeks maybe--before they have to fall back behind our defensive line at Cybertron.”

Jazz wanted to laugh bitterly, but he lacked the energy. “Imagine that, Decepticons falling back behind our lines because the humans figured out the right kind of shielding before they did. Wouldn't have happened if Starscream was still with them.”

Prowl didn't move, not even the simple twitches of his fingers that Jazz had gotten used to as he talked to the comatose mech. 

With a shuddering sigh, he leaned over and rested his head on Prowl's shoulder. “I don't know if we can keep doing this. Galvatron will fight them until his spark goes out, but the rest of us? We went and got tired while things were peaceful.”

“Hey, Prowl.” Jazz sat down on his stool next to the Praxian's berth and reached for the other mech's hand. “I gotta go for a while. We need intel on the Quintessons’ new base, and I'm the only ops bot we've got available, since Raj is still in the next isolation room over. He'll be out in a few more days, but the Quints could slag three colonies by then.”

Prowl's fingers twitched against Jazz's for a moment. Then they squeezed slightly, a noticeable pressure change that sent the saboteur's spark soaring.

“I'm scheduled a four day run, but we both know how these things can go. Don't start worrying about me til I've been gone a week.”

Prowl's fingers twitched again and Jazz smiled.

“I love you, Prowl.” He lifted the Praxian's hand to his lips and kissed each finger gently. “You keep getting better while I'm gone. I'll see you soon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like what I'm doing? Visit me on Tumblr for more fic, and ways to get a fic like this for yourself!  
https://eerian-sadow.tumblr.com/
> 
> Don't do Tumblr? Find me on Dreamwidth and Pillowfort! https://eerian-sadow.dreamwidth.org/ or https://www.pillowfort.io/eerian_sadow


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